The present invention relates to a flat harness machining method of forming a plurality of hole portions in insulating coupling plate portions of a flat wire harness, which has a plurality of conductor portions in parallel, by a device cutting using a press and a punching machine.
FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 show a mode of a flat harness machining method in the related art (see JP-A-6-333443 (FIG. 1 and FIG. 2)).
While using the punching machine 45 having upper punches 41, 42, 43, a lower movable device 44, and the like, as shown in FIG. 6, this flat harness machining method forms simultaneously a longitudinal slit 47, a round hole 48 at an end of the slit 47, a rectangular notched portion 49 adjacent subsequently to the slit 47 in a flat harness 46 with one stroke, as shown in FIG. 7. The round hole punch 43 and the notching punch 42 are projected downward farther than the slit punch 41, so that the round hole 48 and the notched portion 49 are formed first and then the slit 47 is formed.
The flat harness 46 is constructed to have a plurality of conductor portions (not shown) such as print circuits, or the like in parallel with the slit 47 and to cover respective conductor portions with a flexible insulating sheet. The slit 47 is formed to bend or branch-connect the flat harness 46. The round hole 48 is formed to prevent a cutting of the slit 47 from extending. The notched portion 49 is formed to differentiate a length of an end portion of the flat harness 46, or the like.
FIG. 8 shows a mode of a flat harness fitting method in the related art (see JP-A-2004-139941 (FIG. 5)).
A flat harness 50 has slit-like hole portions 53 and positioning hole portions 56 in parallel with insulating coupling plate portions 58 provided between conductor portions 57 respectively. Press-fitting terminals 52 of a connector 51 are passed through these hole portions 53. The positioning hole portions 56 are engaged with rectangular positioning projections 55 of a car body or an onboard equipment 54. The conductor portions 57 are constructed by a core wire made of conductive metal and have a round sectional shape.
The flat harness 50 is provided on the car body or the onboard equipment 54 in a state that the conductor portions 57 are pressure-welded to the press-fitting terminals 52. The press-fitting terminal 52 has a pair of right and left press-fitting pieces (both indicated with a symbol 52 herein) and a slot which is formed between a pair of press-fitting pieces and into which the conductor portion 57 is press-fitted. Also, an insulating cover cutting blade is provided to inlets of a pair of press-fitting pieces respectively.
FIG. 9 and FIG. 10 show a mode of a flat harness connector manufacturing method in the related art (see JP-A-2003-297517 (FIG. 2, FIG. 8)).
A flat harness connector 59 is constructed such that two sheets of flat harnesses 60, 61 are arranged orthogonally to each other, then respective conductor portions of both flat harnesses 60, 61 are connected mutually via joint terminals 63 of a joint connector 62, and then a connector 68 is provided to terminals of the flat harnesses 60, 61 respectively.
As shown in FIG. 9, in respective flat harnesses 60, 61, a slit 66 is provided to an insulating coupling plate portion 65 between conductor portions 64. Because lengths of the slits 66 are set differently, the reverse fitting of the flat harness onto a press-fitting unit (not shown) is prevented. A round positioning hole 67 is provided to one flat harness 60 adjacent to the slit 66 in the longitudinal direction.
A setting jig (not shown) of the press-fitting unit has ribs that are engaged with the slits 66 of the flat harnesses 60, 61, and a positioning pin that is engaged with the round hole 67 on one flat harness 60. The joint connector 62 shown in FIG. 10 is fitted in a state that the flat harnesses 60, 61 are positioned in the setting jig to intersect orthogonally with each other, and then press-fitting blades (not shown) push downward the conductor portions 64 between the ribs against press-fitting portions 69 of the lower joint terminals 63, so that both flat harnesses 60, 61 are joined via the joint terminals 63. The joint terminal 63 has the press-fitting portions 69 on both side of the base portion, and is provided to the inside of the joint connector 62. The conductor portions 64 are press-connected to the press-fitting portions 69 between the slits 66 of the joint connector 62 by a falling action of the press-fitting portions 69.
FIG. 11 shows other mode of the flat harness in the related art (see JP-UM-A-6-77116 (FIG. 4)).
A flat harness 70 is constructed such that slits 73 the lengths of which are differentiated sequentially are formed in insulating coupling plate portions 72 between respective conductor portions 71. Since the flat harness 70 is pushed from the shorter side to the longer side of the slits 73 to set upright and pile up the covered conductor portions 71, such flat harness 70 can be bent at any angle and used. A bended portion 74 is bound together with a fastening clip with a strap, for example, and fixed to a hole portion of the car body, or the like.
However, in respective modes in the related art, it is feared that, for example, the worker confuses the hole portions 53 through which the press-fitting terminals 52 are passed with the positioning hole portions 56 when the harness positioning hole portions 56 are small in the flat harness 50 in FIG. 8, or the worker confuses the slits 66 that are engaged with the ribs of the press-fitting setting jig with the positioning round hole 67 when the harness positioning round hole 67 is large in the flat harnesses 60, 61 in FIG. 9, or the worker confuses the bending slits 73 with the positioning hole portion when the large harness positioning hole portion (not shown) is provided in the flat harness 70 in FIG. 11.
Also, in the machining methods of the flat harnesses 50,flat harnesses 50, 60, flat harnesses 50,60,61, flat harnesses 50,60,61,70, since the longer slits 66 that are engaged with the ribs of the press-fitting setting jig to position, the circular round hole 67 for preventing the harness reverse setting in the setting jig, the hole portions 53 for passing the press-fitting terminals, the shorter hole portions 56 for positioning the harness on the car body, the onboard equipment, or the like, and the longer slits 73 used to bend the flat harness must be opened, there are such problems that the dedicated punching device is needed respectively and thus a production cost, a management cost, and the like of the punching devices are increased. Also, when respective holes should be formed in one flat harness, there are such problems that a size and a cost of the punching machine including the punching deices are increased and also the setup operations such as exchange of the punching device , and the like becomes complicated.